37. Roseanne. “Oh, there was one other thing.

I can remember her saying that the young lad Ranger Spiller called round. He asked her questions and took notes about what she had said but she thought he was too young to be doing that important job. I don’t think he was even 18 years old. I doubt if he’d ever had a girl in his life. But he did say that he thought it strange that Orlowski was round earlier on instead of Quigley going over himself. Jeffrey and Quigley had set up some sort of contract between themselves so that Quigley would be the Company’s contractor whilst still the Manager. Mother didn’t understand what it was all about. But it did give work to the menfolk in the place. Many of them and their families were in a bad way.”
Richard got up, walked slowly over to the upper floor window with his hands in his pockets and looked out across the colourful orange tiles with their jumbled up rooftops and array of different chimney pots. It doesn’t fit. There was something that wasn’t right about what Roseanne had told them.
Early next morning out on his walk, Richard thought it was odd that Chantelle, the Grandmother, had chosen to tell Shanolla that she should tell no-one when in fact she had also told her own daughter, Roseanne. He put it down to Chantelle’s confusion and thought no more about it. Walking along the bank of the Douro and up into the city he marvelled at the architecture. The wonderful displays of fresh, colourful flowers, vegetables and fish already laid out on the market stalls and the small groups of morning people already engrossed in their conversation around their coffees and croissants sitting at their small round tables. Maybe Chantelle had wanted to blame Loga for her own reasons? Richard was just guessing. There were too many unanswered questions.
Richard and Shanolla both returned to St. John’s two days after